Andy Serkis Says He Was ‘Evangelical’ About Performance Capture After Playing Gollum in ‘Lord of the Rings’ but Now Accepts It’s ‘Misunderstood’: ‘If You Get It? Great’

Nov 8, 2026 10:58am PT Andy Serkis Says He Was ‘Evangelical’ About Performance Capture After Playing Gollum in ‘Lord of the Rings’ but Now Accepts It’s ‘Misunderstood’: ‘If You Get It? Great’

By Payton Turkeltaub

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Payton Turkeltaub

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Andy Serkis, who played an instrumental role in bringing the on-screen version of Gollum (also known as Sméagol) to life in “The Lord of the Rings” franchise, is reflecting on the technology that helped him do so.

Gollum, a central character in the films, is the result of both Serkis’ performance and computer-generated elements through performance capture and CGI. In a recent interview with the Times, the actor, who is currently filming “The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum,” explained that he “never really cared about” people associating him with his arsenal of digitally-altered characters. (Serkis has also lent his talents to play Kong in “King Kong” and Caesar in the “Planet of the Apes” trilogy.)

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